The Pirate Speaks: Leach thread v2.0

I understand. But you are wrong. The kid was under a doctor's care. He WAS being treated. And there wasn't much you could do at that point after a mild concussion, other than not put him into full contact situations until he passed some visual tests. That is how minor concussions are handled. With TIME.

I have had at least four concussions in my life, starting in my teens, and most recently a few years ago when I was knocked out cold on a basketball court (I came down head first) and it messed up my life for a few months. The severity of that one put me in the hospital, so I know the difference between a mild concussion and more serious ones -- and if you have had several, you should be able to make that distinction, too.

I can attest from personal experience that there are levels of being concussed. I had one when I was a high school player (20+ years ago), for example, and it was barely treated, because the attitude was that I had my bell rung or that it was a "ding." Looking back, because of the severity of later concussions and knowing how messed up they left me, I know that what I suffered from was a mild concussion. I have suffered from another one that was similar, so I know what a mild concussion is like compared to a more serious one. They are NOT fun. But it wasn't what you described -- Being put in a dark room a day later (as Adam James was) would not have put me at risk of anything. Within a few hours, I was back on my feet, even if I still had that slow, tired, slow motion feeling. A day later, I was feeling even better. I was back at practice and participating the very next day (Stupidly, but concussions weren't treated with the same level of seriousness). Maybe that wasn't the smartest thing in hindsight, but that will give you an idea about what a MILD concussion is like. You shouldn't be all-out practicing in a full-contact sport, but being asked to walk around a football field just to attend the practice and be a member of the team was not out of line, and being placed in a dark room was not putting him in any more danger. If he was seriously incapable of being there and WALKING, there is no way the doctors would have signed off on him and there is no way Mike Leach would have put the kid at harm. Every former player I have seen interviewed said that is not the kind of coach he was. He never pushed injured players to do more than they were cleared for. And he was not one of those "suck it up, it's only a shattered leg" type coaches. By all accounts, he cared about his kids.

The concussion I suffered a few years ago was serious. My sense of equilibrium was completely lost and it took me months to recover. I couldn't do anything. Walking made me feel dizzy and I felt like I was going to fall down all the time. I couldn't exercise at all and it destroyed me mentally. If I turned my head suddenly, I felt like I was going to throw up. There were days I had to just lie in bed in the dark because it was the only minor relief I could find. I thought I was never going to recover and it scared the living hell out of me.

I will guarantee, from the reports and from the video of the kid and from what the trainers and the doctor were saying that Adam James did not suffer a concussion anything near that level of severeity. He suffered a mild concussion, and if the reports are correct, he was never asked to do anything that put him in any harm's way. No one is even alleging that. When they dismissed him, the reason given was that he hazed the kid. Not that he put his health in jeopardy.

 

Machine, I wasn't trying to negate your experience. The point was that not all concussions are the same in severity. And this kid WAS under medical supervision--a doctor. He wasn't in pads and doing drills because of the concussion, but he was cleared to do something simple like walk around the field (what they asked him to do).

Maybe I have the facts wrong, because I wasn't there, but when you sift right through it and use common sense, what it sounded like to me was that James was a constant pain in the ass to the coaching staff, wasn't a worker, and this was no exception. He showed attitude that day, showed up in street clothes and sun glasses, wanted to pick his nose on the sideline when EVERY OTHER player is expected to do as much as he is capable of given an injury at practice. And then he didn't even take what they asked him to do seriously. He didn't think the rules should apply to him.

So Leach got pissed and hazed the kid. Was it right? Probably not. But it is hardly the worst thing that has ever happened on a practice field and it would strike me as MUCH worse if it was a coach being an abusive asshole to a kid who didn't bring it on himself by his constant actions.

Show me one person who knows what they are talking about and was near the situation, who said that Leach put the kid in danger -- because of his concussion -- and you have a valid point. But the doctor said NO SUCH THING. In his affidavit, he said it was 1) a minor concussion, and 2) James "may not have been harmed" but... the doctor "considered this practice inappropriate."

Basically, he thought Leach hazed the kid. Not that he put the kid in danger. And I believe that. I seriously doubt he put that kid's health in any jeopardy, and I am certain the University would have jumped all over it (which they have not been able to) as a quick reason for firing him with cause if they could have. They couldn't, knew they couldn't (which was why it went down the way it did) and at the end of the day, the claim in the legal proceedings is going to be that he tried to humiliate the kid, not that he jeopardized his health.